There's just as much fantastically random, neat stuff online as offline. If anything, there's more, and it's much easier to find.

But his essay includes a neat stat that shows off both peoples' hunger for digital serendipity and Apple's endlessly impressive, year-old iPhone app platform: iPhone and iPod touch owners "shake" IAC's UrbanSpoon iPhone app about a million times a day.

(Shaking the app triggers the iPhone's motion sensor, telling the app to deliver a random restaurant.)